About Ladislao De LucaBELLFLOWER NETWORK RIVAL: Armiger Ladislao De Luca
His appearance is surprisingly rosy-cheeked and healthful, for someone with such an unhealthy set of interests, and he looks nothing like a necromancer and ‘re-slaver’ who uses the corpses of slaves who did not survive his attempt to recapture them to assist him in his duties. De Luca travels with an odd retinue, carried around on a litter borne by six people who appear freshly-slain, with the wounds of their murders decorated with red dye, where the blood-stains have faded to brown, and the bruises on broken necks of hanged men also colored with cosmetics to make the wounds angry and fresh-looking. A pair of brutish armored hounds are held at bay by the armigers assigned to assist him, and they appear as terrified of the hounds as they are of their master. Six Fast Zombies – each such zombie has been prepared by a combination of his mundane embalming skills, alchemical preservatives and gentle repose spells, to make them appear only recently slain, and to preserve their appearance, so that locals will recognize them. Each wears a placard hanging from a cord around their neck that details the crime they committed that brought them to this state, such as ‘Assisted slaves to escape,’ or ‘Attacked an armiger,’ or ‘Resisted arrest,’ or, his favorites, and the most likely to be patched up if damaged, ‘Andoran partisan.’ Despite the lengths he goes to keep them fresh in appearance and stench-free, he cares little if the locally sourced zombies are destroyed during a combat, as there will be more escaped slaves, or Bellflower imbeciles, to replace them, soon enough. He used to keep track of their names, but has lost track, and sometimes refers to one by name, but is equally likely to be calling that corpse by the name of a rebel or ‘traitor’ whose corpse fell apart months ago. Tondar and Grimmer – These two combat-trained riding dogs, unlike his zombies, are well-treated, and even have leather barding, as their training was something of a labor of love and he considers them less replaceable than the idiots holding their leashes. Their primary task is to track escaped slaves by scent, to intimidate the locals and to devour whatever remains he removes during the embalming process. Armigers assigned to work with De Luca are treated with far less affection than his hounds, and less attention to detail than his zombie litter-bearers. Indeed, he is less likely to accurately remember one of their names than the names of his zombies (since the zombies, at least, did something in life worthy of his ordering their execution). Despite the unpleasant nature of the work, they tend to survive the engagement, and come to appreciate how much of the tracking work is handled by the ferocious hounds, and how much of the chasing down and capturing of slaves is handled by the shockingly fast zombies of former abolitionists (and, invariably, some Andoran fool who was captured on the wrong side of the border and sentenced with helping slaves escape). Boons Those who assist Ladislao in his pursuits, generally to apprehend slaves attempting to cross the border, or to reveal those who would assist them in their escape, but occasionally more esoteric interests into necromantic studies or alchemical formulae, might learn from him the necromantic practices that allow one to create a Fast zombie. He also has independently researched a variation on two different Orisioni alchemical funerary oils. Quote: The first can either be used to preserve a body for 24 hours, similar to the effects of a gentle repose spell, or to afford a +5 alchemical bonus to any craft or profession check relating to taxidermy or embalming. If the oil is used as a material component during the casting of a gentle repose spell upon a body that has been animated by necromantic forces or is otherwise undead, in a process that requires 10 minutes to anoint the body before the spell is cast, it doubles the duration of the spell. (Cost 5 gp, 1 lb, Craft (alchemy) DC 20 to make) Quote: The second oil appears quite similar, but is related instead to alchemical fire. Within a minute of the paste being exposed to air, it becomes warm to the touch, and begins to soak into any unliving organic material upon which it has been spread. 10 minutes after it is exposed to air, it bursts into a dull flame that burns for 10 rounds, inflicting 1d6 fire damage per round to the lifeless organic material that was so anointed, ignoring up to 2 points of hardness that material might have, but inflicting only minimal damage to the surrounding area, and providing only half the light of a torch, as the fire is contained almost entirely within the burning material. If not wiped off of the hands of a living creature that applied it, the flames inflict 1d3 damage, but last only a single round, as the oils generated by the skin of a living being negate the effects of the crematory oil. (Cost 10 gp, 1 lb, Craft (alchemy) DC 15 to make) While crematory oil was designed to destroy corpses, without generating dangerous pyres, a single application may prove sufficient to burn through a wooden door.
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